“Thanks seyed ali mohammad Hosseini for an amazing tour of Iran!
My family and I really felt lucky that we had Seyed Ali Mohammad Hosseini as our guide. His work is not just a job for him, it was obvious that he's passionate about the cultural heritage of Iran and he truly loves sharing his wealth of knowledge with visitors. Not only did he know all the facts, history, intriguing details, but he also knew when was the best time to visit a site for optimal lighting, or where's the less known hidden spot for that impressive panorama view, or how best to see the stars when we stayed at the caravanserai. It really felt like he knew everything. He stunned everyone with his singing of call to prayer and helped us take the most artistic photos that bedazzled my friends ("that looks like a photo from National Geographic" - one friend said). Ali has the patience of a saint and always went above and beyond what was expected of him. He regularly bought us special treats (and he knows the best places to find them), gave me his own mint remedies when I had a sore stomach, and he helped us tip hotel porters and pay for taxis and would never say a thing unless we ask him how much he's paid on our behalf. He surprised my sister with a birthday cake and candle, graciously resolved any issues we may have from broken glasses to hotel room exchange, took us to see religious celebrations in the evening during his own free time. We trusted him entirely (my sister and I would literally hand him our envelope of money to pay for us when we were getting confused by the huge Iranian bills), and considered him as a part of our family. He quickly picked up common Shanghainese phrases we were saying and started speaking to us in the Shanghai dialect and called us by our Shanghainese names. When a European tourist shouted at my family - you, Chinese, move!, Ali confronted him; and when the tourist asked him if he's Iranian, Ali responded in solidarity - "I'm Chinese". Ali took great care of us and made the tour super fun. We ran into one of Ali's colleagues during our tour and he said to us - "you know you have the best tour guide in Iran?". I nodded and said - of course, we know.
